There were three public hangings in Chicago - far fewer than most people think. The first was in 1840, and was the hanging of a fellow known as John Stone - it was in the middle of what was then the prairie, but is probably close to where Chinatown is today on the near-south side.
Stone was charged with the murder of a young woman. The main evidence against him was that shortly after the woman's death, he had set fire to his clothes.
When asked why, he had explained that they were too dirty to wear. Just how dirty clothes had to get before a woods-dwelling logger in 1840 would burn them doesn't bear thinking about.
"Why, then," asked the prosecuting attorney, "didn't you burn your shirt?"
"Because there was no blood on it," said Stone, carelessly. It was a slip of the tongue that sealed his fate.
A full account of his crime, his hanging, and life in Chicago as of 1840 is in "FATAL DROP: True Tales of the Chicago Gallows" by Weird Chicago historian William Griffith - it's due out Jan 9th. We'll be posting LOTS of stories from here around then, including some FANTASTIC stuff that's NEVER been in Chicago crime/ghost book before!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Al Capone's House for Sale
There's hardly an old building in the cit that people don't say was once owned by Al Capone, Chicago's own real-live version of Jabba the Hutt. Almost all such stories are nonsense; he kept a rather low profile in the city. But there's one house that we can all agree that he owned down on the south side - and it's up for sale!
Capone's House for Sale
Weird Chicago's own Troy Taylor is quoted in the article!
The house was featured a while ago on the "Cities of the Underworld' show, though the episode seemed patently absurd to me - as the show generally does. They go to some great places there, but they rely WAY too much on just relaying the wildest, craziest rumors instead of doing actual research. The woman who showed them around Capone's house seemed kinda like a phony to me - Capone wasn't in that house after about 1932, when he went to jail. For her to remember him, and what he was like in the house, she would have to be at least 85 or so. She didn't LOOK any older than about 60 to me.
Capone's House for Sale
Weird Chicago's own Troy Taylor is quoted in the article!
The house was featured a while ago on the "Cities of the Underworld' show, though the episode seemed patently absurd to me - as the show generally does. They go to some great places there, but they rely WAY too much on just relaying the wildest, craziest rumors instead of doing actual research. The woman who showed them around Capone's house seemed kinda like a phony to me - Capone wasn't in that house after about 1932, when he went to jail. For her to remember him, and what he was like in the house, she would have to be at least 85 or so. She didn't LOOK any older than about 60 to me.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
The Snowman That Came to Life in Logan Square
As the holidays roll around, let's consider a REALLY weird piece of Chicago history - the snowman that allegedly came to life in Logan Square in 1958. According to legend, the snow man became sentient after children placed a mysterious black hat on his head, and, after beginning to dance around, he ran away through the square, disobeying traffic cops and threatening to come back again someday.
Some insist that the story was true, but evidence is slim. Olga Durlochen's "Good Grief, More Chicago Spooks" lists three eyewitnesses, but census data indicates that at least two of them never existed. Newspapers of the day don't seem have picked up the story, leaving us with very little documentary evidence beyond the usual hearsay. Researchers, who note the similarities between this story and the Jewish legend of the Golem, generally believe it to be little more than an urban myth, but some people can still be found poking around soil samples in Logan Square, trying to find "proof."
Others wait for the day when "Frosty" fulfills his own prophesy and returns, but there have been no sightings in the last half century.
Happy Holidays from the Weird Chicago gang!
Some insist that the story was true, but evidence is slim. Olga Durlochen's "Good Grief, More Chicago Spooks" lists three eyewitnesses, but census data indicates that at least two of them never existed. Newspapers of the day don't seem have picked up the story, leaving us with very little documentary evidence beyond the usual hearsay. Researchers, who note the similarities between this story and the Jewish legend of the Golem, generally believe it to be little more than an urban myth, but some people can still be found poking around soil samples in Logan Square, trying to find "proof."
Others wait for the day when "Frosty" fulfills his own prophesy and returns, but there have been no sightings in the last half century.
Happy Holidays from the Weird Chicago gang!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
H.H. Holmes On the North Side
We've been making more regular stops at one of H.H. Holmes former spots on the North Side, at which he had both a house and a "glass bending" factory that was thought to have been a body dump / spot for cremations. Some months ago we noticed the strange flickering light there; most nights I think that it's just a bad light, but there HAVE been nights when it's been seen, again and again, to go off or on every time I say the names "Holmes" or "Emily Van Tassel" (the name of the girl he can be assumed to have killed there). On those nights, people tend to accuse me of having a remote control in my pocket. I still think it's probably just a bad light, but who knows what kind of energies the light might be reacting to in the area?
There's still a lot to find out about the place - we can only identify one person who was likely to have been killed there, but it seems HIGHLY unlikely to me that Holmes go to all the trouble of getting the place and then only use it once. Some other recent developments:
- We've found the foundations of the old glass bending factory itself; that the remaining structure dates to the late 19th century has been confirmed by archaeologists. That it's been at least that long can be confirmed just by looking at the ancient tree that's grown over it.
- One night we arrived in the spot and found three hawks with dead doves in their mouths. Creepy business, that.
- There was one possible apparition sighting - that of a woman in a black dress - a few months back.
- The sound of a woman weeping (or something that sounds like that) was heard near the foundation on two recent occasions.
It's an interesting place for us to go, because it's genuinely "virgin territory" for ghost hunting; some of our tour stops have been staples of ghost tours for years, and others have at least been thought to be haunted by the staff for years now. In this place, the only stories we have are the things we've seen ourselves.
There's still a lot to find out about the place - we can only identify one person who was likely to have been killed there, but it seems HIGHLY unlikely to me that Holmes go to all the trouble of getting the place and then only use it once. Some other recent developments:
- We've found the foundations of the old glass bending factory itself; that the remaining structure dates to the late 19th century has been confirmed by archaeologists. That it's been at least that long can be confirmed just by looking at the ancient tree that's grown over it.
- One night we arrived in the spot and found three hawks with dead doves in their mouths. Creepy business, that.
- There was one possible apparition sighting - that of a woman in a black dress - a few months back.
- The sound of a woman weeping (or something that sounds like that) was heard near the foundation on two recent occasions.
It's an interesting place for us to go, because it's genuinely "virgin territory" for ghost hunting; some of our tour stops have been staples of ghost tours for years, and others have at least been thought to be haunted by the staff for years now. In this place, the only stories we have are the things we've seen ourselves.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Farewell, House of Crosses!
A true Weird Chicago landmark, the House of Crosses is no more. It was already abandoned by the time we started up the company, and was a staple on our earliest tours.
The house went on the market a couple of years ago, and was presumed to be a tear-down property. Most of the crosses were removed around May of 2007, though the crosses on the coach house and the back of the house remained. However, it appears that the house wasn't torn down, in the end. The house and coach house were simply totally gutted and rehabbed. Here's the house as it appears today:
Click here (or see our book) for our piece on the house - including a link to our interview with the owner, Don Zaraza, whose uncle created the crosses.
The house went on the market a couple of years ago, and was presumed to be a tear-down property. Most of the crosses were removed around May of 2007, though the crosses on the coach house and the back of the house remained. However, it appears that the house wasn't torn down, in the end. The house and coach house were simply totally gutted and rehabbed. Here's the house as it appears today:
Click here (or see our book) for our piece on the house - including a link to our interview with the owner, Don Zaraza, whose uncle created the crosses.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Florentine "Shadow Ghost" analysis!
We've now had time to analyze the heck out of the Florentine Room shadow ghost picture that was taken during a tour a few weeks ago - most of the early theories going around revolved around the presence of a "second photographer" taking a picture that cast either my shadow or that of the photographer against the wall. Here's the shot (edited version):
And here's the original, unedited version. The camera malfunctioned on the shot, apparently causing the flash to go off very weakly, or perhaps out of sync with the shutter. The exif data of the photo says the flash did go off, but at a power level of "20/100."
And, just for comparison's sake, a shot from the same night, from about the same spot, with the same camera, when the flash DID go off correctly - and with someone standing about where I was in the "ghost" shot, but casting no shadow on the back wall:
From the edited picture, we can see that the part of the wall and chairs illuminated by the flash in the two photos are consistent, and the shadows from the lighting fixtures are cast at just about the same angle - and angle that strongly suggests that the source of light hitting the wall is coming from the camera. The shadow definitely isn't me - I'm lit from entirely the wrong angle to be casting a shadow, especially one that strong, in that direction. And it's not the photographer himself, since A: the shadow clearly isn't a guy holding up a camera, and B: there's no shadow of him on the table. Therefore, we can surmise that whatever is casting that shadow ought to be standing directly between the photographer and the wall - and, as you can see, nobody is.
Now, I make it a point never to say that anything is definitely a "paranormal" photo, but this one has certainly defied all explanation. The only thing left is that there's always a chance that it's faked, but if so, the photographer's doing a HECK of a job of tricking me. This is one reason why I often say "there's no such thing as GOOD ghost evidence, only COOL ghost evidence:" even when all normal explanations are exhausted, we still have to take everyone at their word that it wasn't a hoax. Having spoken with the photographer, I don't think he's a hoaxer.
So,assuming it's NOT a fake, who is the ghost? There IS a "shadowy figure" ghost that is thought to be that of a guy named Captain Lou Ostheim. And there's always been a rumor that Teddy Roosevelt haunts that particular ballroom - it DOES look like a Roosevelt posture, eh?
These aren't the only possibilities - certainly the room was popular with gangsters in the 1920s - they were known to hold banquets there from time to time, and rumors persist among the staff that there was a hit in the general vicinity at one point or another. This IS the general area where the "gunshot" noise has been heard.
So what we have here is the most we can really hope to find on any given ghost hunt: a mystery! Thanks again to John of bachelors-grove.com, the photographer!
And here's the original, unedited version. The camera malfunctioned on the shot, apparently causing the flash to go off very weakly, or perhaps out of sync with the shutter. The exif data of the photo says the flash did go off, but at a power level of "20/100."
And, just for comparison's sake, a shot from the same night, from about the same spot, with the same camera, when the flash DID go off correctly - and with someone standing about where I was in the "ghost" shot, but casting no shadow on the back wall:
From the edited picture, we can see that the part of the wall and chairs illuminated by the flash in the two photos are consistent, and the shadows from the lighting fixtures are cast at just about the same angle - and angle that strongly suggests that the source of light hitting the wall is coming from the camera. The shadow definitely isn't me - I'm lit from entirely the wrong angle to be casting a shadow, especially one that strong, in that direction. And it's not the photographer himself, since A: the shadow clearly isn't a guy holding up a camera, and B: there's no shadow of him on the table. Therefore, we can surmise that whatever is casting that shadow ought to be standing directly between the photographer and the wall - and, as you can see, nobody is.
Now, I make it a point never to say that anything is definitely a "paranormal" photo, but this one has certainly defied all explanation. The only thing left is that there's always a chance that it's faked, but if so, the photographer's doing a HECK of a job of tricking me. This is one reason why I often say "there's no such thing as GOOD ghost evidence, only COOL ghost evidence:" even when all normal explanations are exhausted, we still have to take everyone at their word that it wasn't a hoax. Having spoken with the photographer, I don't think he's a hoaxer.
So,assuming it's NOT a fake, who is the ghost? There IS a "shadowy figure" ghost that is thought to be that of a guy named Captain Lou Ostheim. And there's always been a rumor that Teddy Roosevelt haunts that particular ballroom - it DOES look like a Roosevelt posture, eh?
These aren't the only possibilities - certainly the room was popular with gangsters in the 1920s - they were known to hold banquets there from time to time, and rumors persist among the staff that there was a hit in the general vicinity at one point or another. This IS the general area where the "gunshot" noise has been heard.
So what we have here is the most we can really hope to find on any given ghost hunt: a mystery! Thanks again to John of bachelors-grove.com, the photographer!
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